


High Score

by Pandorah



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arcade AU, First Meetings, M/M, Meet-Cute, sorry no smut, suggestive ending, wow i know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 14:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20837369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandorah/pseuds/Pandorah
Summary: Keith works at the arcade run by his family called Extra Life. While working he spots someone new on his favorite dance machine. That person turns out to be an incredibly handsome fire fighter named Shiro. They meet and things get competitive.





	High Score

**Author's Note:**

> After going to a Round One I had this idea pop into my head and had to write it. Smut kept knocking at my brain but I chased it off for this one. I wanted something cute. At least to start. I may have more fun with this AU again in the future. I certainly have ideas, lol.

As usual for a Saturday night, the new arcade Extra Life was packed with people. Games of every type and skill filled the two story building and one section was dedicated to bowling. There was a snack bar in the back as well as a small room available for the younger kids to play and rest in. There were a couple rooms for karaoke and some able to be reserved for parties. There was a bar and some pool tables on the second floor to give the adults a more calm area to relax in. People of all ages came here to play and relax, so much so that there was usually a line of people waiting to get in. The first week the place was open they had an angry fire marshal come in and have to enforce the capacity limit. Since then, if you wanted in you had to get there early, or know someone.

Keith did not have to worry about the lines and was able to come and go as he wished. He worked the bar up on the second floor but it was thanks to his parents owning the place that he had free roam. They did not give it to him easy though. He did get free food and drink but anything else he had to pay for himself. They paid him the same wage as the other works, well above the minimum, and he rather did enjoy his job. While it had taken him a bit of time to get used to being around so many people, he quickly warmed up to it. Since he worked the bar he could avoid the screaming kids for the most part, so it wasn't bad for him at all. Thankfully so far he had only had to toss one man out who had become so drunk that he had almost fallen down the stairs.

Keith was at the bar now wiping things down and washing glasses between patrons when his coworker Lance ran up to him with a huge grin on his face.

"Keith, you gotta get downstairs and see this! Some new guy showed up and he's about to wreck your high score at DDR!"

Everyone knew that Keith couldn't be touched when it came to the dance games. The closest scores were still thousands of points away from even being close to his, so to hear someone may actually surpass him definitely got his attention. His father was sitting at the bar and he gave a chuckle and a shooing motion with his hands.

"Go ahead, I'll cover for you." Tex said with a smile.

Keith pulled off his vest and set it down before tossing the rag aside and practically leapt over the bar top to follow quickly after Lance as they made their way downstairs and to the dance machine. It was slow going as the place was not only packed as usual but everyone had gathered around to watch the mystery man dance. They were cheering and shouting loudly and the yells only intensified when the numbers continued to rack up.

He gently pushed his way through the crowd, most of them stepping aside for him as soon as they recognized him, and he stood to the side and watched the man with wide eyes. He had been expecting someone young or more to his own size and build, but the man here was a bit older than him. Not only that, he was covered in muscle that currently shined with sweat as he worked hard to land the moves. Not only was this man hitting everything perfectly, he wasn't just stepping on the arrows. He was full on dancing and doing his own thing and still hit everything perfectly. His moves were practiced and flowed like that of someone used to dancing, or maybe martial arts. He was laughing even as he panted for breath and continued to move and Keith's own breath was taken away once he saw the mans face.

A pair of steel grey eyes shone with happiness, a long scar went across his nose but did not take away from his attractiveness, a wide smile, and a strong jawline to match the rest of his muscular build. His hair was short and black for the most part except for his bangs which were pure white and flopped around with all of his movements. His white tanktop was plastered to his body with sweat and it allowed Keith a very good view of him. He couldn't tear his eyes away from him, completely entranced.

The spell was broken when the alarm sounded and a new high score was announced. Keith's eyes jumped up to the large screen and saw that this man, Shiro going by what he entered for his name, had beaten his score by only a couple thousand points. He could not let that stand. While Shiro was wiping himself off with a towel and taking a bottle of water from a blond man nearby, Keith moved onto the second machine and swiped his card.

"You're pretty good." Keith said as he went through the playlist. "If you didn't just finish, I'd challenge you right now. I'm sure you want a break though after that."

"Nah I've got pretty good...stamina." Shiro had started speaking before turning to face his challenger and when he saw Keith he froze for a moment and just stared. Then he blinked and his mouth that had fallen open snapped up and he smiled. "That was just a warm up, I've got plenty more in me. You wanting a dance off Keith?"

Keith tilted his head. "How do you know my name? I've never seen you in here before." he wasn't wearing his vest which had his name tag on it so it wasn't obvious.

"I've been in here before now, but your friend is screaming your name pretty loud so I put two and two together." Shiro chuckled.

It was only that that Keith remembered their audience and sure enough Lance was there yelling at Keith to take back his throne and destroy Shiro.

Keith grinned in response. "I think they do want us to battle. I'm up for it if you're game. It will be nice to have some competition for once."

Shiro swiped his card in response and looked up at the screen. "You want to pick?"

"No, guest's choice. I can do all of them so pick your poison."

Shiro hummed as he went through the list and picked the fastest one and on the hardest difficulty.

"Valkyrie, huh?" Keith began stretching before they started to loosen up. He had yet to fully master this one but maybe competing directly with someone would be just enough to motivate him to try harder. "You sure you don't want to start with something a bit easier? You've never seen me dance."

Shiro wiggled his eyebrows and hit start. The crowd started screaming as the music started and both players started to dance.

"Kick his ass, Shiro!" the blond to the side yelled.

"Show him no mercy, Keith!" Lance had moved to stand closer to the blond and the two of them started their own competition on who could be the loudest at cheering.

Neither Keith or Shiro paid any attention to their friends or the crowd. Their eyes were locked on the screens as their feet moved at near inhuman speed and accuracy. Getting towards the end, Keith started missing beats which allowed Shiro to get ahead by a good amount in points. Keith was not able to catch up again considering Shiro didn't miss a beat and by the time the song ended, Shiro remained the Champion. Keith collapsed back against the bar breathing hard and Shiro leaned over his gasping for breath. Their eyes met and they both laughed weakly due to being out of breath.

Shiro was the first to move and he extended his hand to Keith with a smile. "I'm Shiro."

Keith reached out and accepted his hand. "Keith. I hope you come around here more to keep me on my toes."

"Yeah, I think I will." their gazes remained locked and they still were holding each others hands, that was until Shiro's blond friend nearly tackled him from behind. "Matt, what the hell!"

"Shiro that was so beautiful! I was totally not worried for you at all." the blond fake wailed.

"What would you be worried about?" Shiro turned to look at his friend.

Matt eyed Keith. "I thought you'd be too distracted by him to focus on the screen!"

Shiro turned a lovely shade of pink and Keith felt his own cheeks heating as well. Shiro started stuttering and Keith chuckled.

"You look like you could use a drink. My treat." Keith said with a smile and nodded towards the stairs. "Come up whenever you want. I'm still on shift and need to get back to work. Thanks for the dance, Shiro." he then gave the cute man a wink before turning and heading up the stairs. When he risked a glance over the railing when he got to the top, he saw Shiro was now sitting on the dance pad with Matt laughing above him.

"You look like you had fun." His dad greeted him when he returned to the bar, a glass of ice water already waiting for him on the bar top.

"I guess I did." Keith picked up the glass and chugged half of it before taking his place behind the bar. "Thanks for letting me take a break."

"No need to thank me, son. You're hear until closing tonight so you make sure you take your breaks when you can get them. If you feel too tired to drive home after, you either use the couch in my office or call me or your mother for a ride, got it?"

"Yeah dad, I know. Same drill as usual."

Tex got up from the stool and patted his son on the shoulder. "If you go elsewhere instead, be sure to text me or your mom." he grinned and Keith wasn't sure why. "You still look mighty thirsty."

It was then that Keith noticed Shiro was coming up the stairs and his face turned crimson. "D-dad!"

Tex threw back his head and laughed loudly. He always did love teasing Keith because he found his reactions too cute. "See you later, maybe." he headed for the stairs and stopped to talk with Shiro.

"Mr. Kogane! I haven't seen you at the station in awhile. How's it going?" Shiro asked with a smile.

"Oh it's been really busy the past month. It's not all fun and games running your own business, even if that business is fun and games."

"You seem to have played your cards right to have such a prosperous business." Shiro said with a grin which made Tex laugh as well.

Behind the bar Keith face palmed. Shiro had the same bad sense of humor as his father.

"You have yourself a nice night, Shiro. I'll swing by the station again once things here steady out. In the mean time, I'm sure Keith can help you with anything you need." Tex gave Shiro a wink before leaving.

Shiro was red face by the time he approached the bar and it wasn't all from the dancing. "Um, hi." he sat down on one of the stools and nodded to the only other person at the bar at the moment, a man with red hair and a big mustache.

"So what will you have, Shiro? You can pick anything you'd like." Keith placed a menu in front of the other man with a smile. "And sorry about my dad. He is so embarrassing."

"Nah, don't worry. I like him. He's actually the reason that I'm hear tonight. When you guys first opened he brought a bunch of cards over for us at the department so we could come and check things out. I've only just now had time to come and do so." his eyes looked Keith over again and their eyes locked. "If I knew how much fun it would be I'd have tried to come over much sooner."

Keith was thinking that if he knew Shiro was one of the new graduates that was at the fire station now, he'd have gone over to visit long ago. His dad was right; he was still so thirsty. He chugged down the rest of his water while waiting for Shiro to decide on a drink.

Before Shiro could make his decision, his phone started beeping and he quickly pulled it out, then scowled. "Sorry, looks like I've got to take a rain check on that drink. I need to get down to the station."

Keith's shoulders dropped, "Oh. Well that's no problem. Feel free to stop by any time. We're open until 2 a.m so no worries if you come in late. I'm here until close tonight if you happen to be around."

"Yeah, we'll see." Shiro reached over and grabbed the pen by the register and scrawled something down on a napkin. "See you later, Keith." He then turned and jogged away.

Keith snatched up the napkin and pulled out his phone, quickly entered in Shiro's number then sent him a text. 'Next time you're here, you're going down Champion.'

'Promise?' Shiro texted back almost instantly, probably still jogging out to his car.

'You bet. Stay safe.'

Keith leaned back against the bar with a smile as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. He turned at the sound of someone laughing softly and saw Coran watching him from the end of the bar. He had completely forgotten that the other man was still there. All he could see before was Shiro.

"Ah young love! It's so beautiful. I remember a time when I-"

Keith cut him off by slamming down a bottle of brown liquid in front of him. "I'll refill your Nunvile for free if you stop talking about that right now."

Coran made a motion of zipping his lips as he slid his mug over to Keith for the refil.

It was around midnight when Shiro came back to Extra Life. At that point the bar was very busy but he still managed to get a seat at a small table off to the side. Matt was with him again and his friend joked that maybe Keith reserved it for him. Thankfully there was an empty chair for Matt to steal so they could sit together. Shiro left Matt at the table and went up to order their drinks. Keith smiled when he saw him but was already helping out someone else so he couldn't serve him himself.

The woman who greeted Shiro had dark skin and pure white hair, her name tag read 'Allura'. "Ah if it isn't our new Champion! Keith said that you get a free drink so just let me know what you'd like."

"Hey, don't you usually work down at the prize room?" Shiro recalled seeing her there often with Keith's friend Lance.

"Yes, but when it gets swamped like this I come up and help Keith out. He's very good and has never messed up an order, but sometimes his patience can be short when dealing with rowdy guests. I guess you can say I'm a buffer between him and them." Allura giggled.

Shiro's eyes slid over to Keith and watched him work for a moment. He was smiling and laughing at whatever the man across from him said but it looked a bit strained. From the look on the man's face, he was probably trying to get Keith's number and wasn't taking no for an answer. Instead of yelling at him, Keith just finished his drink and gave it to him before dancing away to his next customer. When Keith caught his gaze again, he gave Shiro a real smile before turning back to his task at hand.

"Shiro? Have you decided what you want yet?"

Shiro turned his attention back to Allura who was hiding a smile behind her hand. He wondered how long he had just been staring at Keith for and felt his cheeks warm a bit.

"Uh yeah. I'll have whatever local beer you'd recommend and the most sugar filled drink you have." At the look she gave him he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "My friend lives off sugar. I have a sweet tooth but nothing like his. He's also a lush so maybe a little light on the alcohol."

"You got it. My boyfriend is the same way so I understand your concern." Allura turned away from him with a smile and got him his beer first before she started on the drink for Matt. When she finished, a giant monstrosity was placed in front of Shiro. It was blue and purple with colorful bits in it, topped with whipped cream, a dusting of chocolate, and finally a cherry. "Here you go. I call it Sugar Mountain."

Shiro stared at the drink before chuckling. "I think I'm getting cavities just from looking at this. He's going to love it, thank you." he picked up the drink and headed back over to his table. The colorful drink was snatched from him as soon as he was in grabbing distance.

Matt's eyes were huge like saucers and he took a drink right away, his face becoming covered in the whipped cream. "This tastes like heaven. Did that angel make this for me?" Shiro swore that he saw hearts in his friends eyes. "I should thank her."

"Maybe wait until you are done and cleaned up." Shiro shoved some napkins at his friend. "You are such a mess. Are you five?"

Matt pouted as he wiped his face off. "I can't help it. This sugar calls my name like a sweet sweet song."

"I think that's diabetes you're hearing."

"Oh please, I'm perfectly healthy!" Matt continued to stuff his face and make a mess of himself and Shiro could only watch and shake his head.

He enjoyed his beer at a leisurely pace not in any hurry to leave. He hoped to be able to speak with Keith again before the night was out but they were still swamped. He watched Keith behind the bar and whenever their eyes would meet they would both smile. It was probably an hour before Keith finally got out from behind the bar and brought him over another beer.

"Hey, sorry I haven't been able to come say hi yet. It's been a madhouse tonight. I forgot that there was a midnight special on or I would have suggested you come by another night for that drink."

Shiro held up a hand. "Don't worry about it, I've been enjoying myself."

Matt snickered openly. "Yeah, watching him all night."

Keith smirked and did not look away from Shiro as he spoke. "That's fine, I've been watching him all night too."

"I didn't think it possible, but I think I just found something too sweet to handle even for me." Matt looked between the two men who only had eyes for each other. He doubted that they even remembered he was there at that point. He picked up his now empty glass and carefully moved around Keith and made his way up to the bar.

Neither Shiro or Keith noticed that Matt was gone but Keith still set the cold beer down on the table before taking the now empty seat.

"I didn't think I'd actually see you again tonight. I'm glad I was wrong." Keith leaned an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand.

"I'm glad that I was able to come back." Shiro took a sip of the beer while it was still cold. "So are you done now or did you just come over to say hi?"

"Just taking a break. I'm closing tonight so still have an hour on the clock. I didn't know how long you were going to be here for so I wanted to make sure I at least got to say hey."

"Hey." Shiro responded with a chuckle before he frowned. "I can't stay too much longer. If I don't get home to get some sleep I'll be exhausted for work. That's not a good thing considering my job." he watched as the different colored lights danced across Keith's skin or caught in his eyes just right to make them shine like gems. God he was beautiful. It wasn't until Keith laughed that Shiro realized he'd said that part out loud.

Keith laughed a bit, embarrassed. "I'm really nothing special."

Shiro leaned forward on the table unable to stop himself. He may as well go all in. "No, you really are. Don't you hear it all the time from your customers?"

"Yeah, when they want to get in my pants." Keith leaned even closer to Shiro until there were only a few inches between them and they were sharing air. "Do you want to get into my pants, Shiro?"

Shiro instantly turned red and started sputtering. "N-no! I was just being honest, I swear!"

"Hm," Keith leaned forward and brushed his lips over Shiro's ear as he spoke. "Too bad." He then straitened up and stepped away completely leaving Shiro to stare after him in silent shock as he went back behind the bar with a smirk.

Shiro tried to get his attention for the next half hour before he finally gave up and left. Keith wouldn't even look at him but he knew that Shiro was there and it only made him smile the rest of his shift.

Keith didn't see Shiro for a few days after that nor did he get any calls or texts from him. He was starting to think that maybe he stepped too far with the teasing the other night and had embarrassed Shiro so that he was now being avoided. Since it was Wednesday he had off from work and so went to his favorite dance machine to let loose. The screen started and showed the top scores and Keith let out an audible growl. Shiro's name filled every spot there.

"Oh it's on now. You think I'm just going to let you take over in my own home? I don't think so." Keith swiped his card and began to dance his heart out.

A handful of songs later and he was completely out of breath but satisfied. He had not managed to retake first place, but now it was his name that filled the rest of the board. He turned at the sound of clapping behind him and found Shiro standing there with a grin on his face.

"Not bad at all, Keith. I really enjoyed watching you." Shiro walked over to lean on the bar. "Have you done dance before aside from these machines?"

Keith pulled up the bottom of his shirt to wipes his face and he caught the way Shiro's eyes dropped and his tongue slid out to lick his lips. "No, just these mostly and then going to some clubs with friends. I just really love dancing and challenges so these games are a good fit." he dropped the hem of his shirt but it caught on his hips and left a sliver of his toned stomach available. "How about you? You've got some nice moves yourself."

"Yeah? I've not done any dance either though I do practice martial arts. They help with being quick on your feet and giving good balance."

"And making you super buff?" Keith reached over and put a hand on one of Shiro's biceps and gave it a squeeze. "I don't think you get this from martial arts alone."

"Nah, I work out a lot to stay in shape for my job. It's also relaxing for me."

Their conversation, which was becoming mostly staring at each other, was interrupted by someone waiting for the machines.

"Hey if you guys are done can you move? Thanks."

"Yeah, sorry." Keith got off the machine and he and Shiro moved away to allow the couple to use the machines while they went elsewhere. Keith led them through the machines to the back of the arcade to where the snack bar was.

"Keith, hey man, what can I get you?" Hunk was working the stand today and he greeted them with a big smile. "Oh, Shiro! You want something too? I got those cookies that you like!"

"Tempting, but not right now." Shiro said with a chuckle.

"Just a water for me." Keith took it thankfully and pried off the cap to guzzle down half of it in one go. "So how do you two know each other?" he asked looking between his friend and Shiro.

"I see him sometimes when the fire department does their fundraisers since they hire my mother for the baking if they need it. He also lives just down the road from me."

Keith's brows went up and he turned to Shiro. "So you live close by? How have we never run into each other before this week?"

"Maybe we have but didn't realize it? I work odd hours so it wouldn't surprise me at all."

Keith shook his head. "No, I would definitely remember seeing you around."

There was a gasp to his right and he turned his head to see Hunk staring at them with large star filled eyes and his hands up by his mouth like some school girl hearing about a crush. Keith rolled his eyes and took Shiro's arm and started pulling him away. His friends were so embarrassing sometimes. He led Shiro over to where the racing games were and slung his leg over one of the motorcycles, then pulled a pair of leather finger-less gloves from his pockets and pulled them on.

"You ready to eat my dust, Shiro?" he turned to look over his shoulder and saw Shiro staring at him with hunger filled eyes.

Shiro gave him a smirk that made Keith's stomach clench as he strode forward and swung his leg over the motorcycle beside Keith's. "In your dreams maybe."

Keith was not surprised to see Shiro's name at the top of the high score list when he swiped his card. He'd been bumped to number two again but he was pretty confident in his abilities. He selected the hardest track and chuckled while he selected his bike. This particular track used a type of hover motorcycle which were harder to control than a real motorcycle. It added to the challenge of the game and made it more fun.

"How sweet of you to pick my favorite course. Loser pays for next game!" Shiro selected a black hover bike which contrasted nicely with the cherry red one that Keith had selected. "Man I wish these bikes were real!"

"That would be amazing." Keith agreed, then prepared himself as the countdown started.

The race took them through a canon filled with the normal dangers like falling rocks or even some pits, but then there were earth quakes added in for extra challenge. They were always random so you couldn't even time things if you played the game all the time and that kept the player on their toes. It's not fun if it's too easy to win after all. The pair of them were neck and neck through the whole race until the last lap. Keith was getting ready to use his saved up thrust for the last push when Shiro suddenly disappeared from his screen.

"Where did you go?" Keith actually turned his head to look at Shiro's screen to see and found that he had gone onto a hidden path that took him off the track. "I've never seen that before."

"I only found it recently and it only opens up on the last lap. I'm afraid to break it to you Keith, but you're about to lose."

"Don't expect a short cut to help you out that much." Keith used his booster and started shooting ahead.

Shiro chuckled beside him and then leaned forward on his bike and raced towards the edge of the cliff they were racing along. "See ya!" he then drove over the edge and Keith watched in disbelief when he successfully managed to pull up before crashing into the grown and sped away and across the finish line a moment later.

Keith crossed the finish line ten seconds later. He turned on the fake bike to look at Shiro who was still grinning at him. "How did you do that?"

Shiro shrugged. "It's all about timing. It took me a try or two before I figured it out myself so it's not really as easy as it looks."

"Only two tries?" Keith huffed in amusement. "You really are perfect, Shiro."

For some reason that comment made Shiro turn beet red and start stuttering. "I'm not, it's just a game..." he rubbed the back of his neck and looked away for a moment. When he looked back at Keith again, he smiled a bit. "Want to go again?"

Keith swiped his card and then leaned over Shiro to swipe his machine since he'd lost the race. He then leaned up slowly until his face was only inches away from Shiro's. "How about we make things more interesting?"

Shiro sucked in his breath and then licked his lips before letting it out shakily. "Sure. What, uh, what do you have in mind?"

"Winner gets to make a single request from the loser."

"Sounds good to me."

As Keith leaned back he was smiling like the cat who ate the canary. He put in a secret password which made everything dark in the game so they only had their headlights to see by.

"Let's see how well you do on that course when you can't see anything."

"I've never done it like this before. You're giving yourself an advantage, huh? Afraid you'll need it to beat me?" Shiro teased as he made his bike selection again.

"Shut up and ride, Shiro."

The race this time was intense. Even though they both knew the track well, even Keith was more cautious. When the last lap came, Keith turned to see if Shiro was going to take the short cut again. Shiro was staring at the screen in full concentration and he missed the entrance this time. Keith turned back to his screen just in time to avoid a low over hang and then he was speeding off putting more and more distance between himself and Shiro. This time it was he who crossed the finish first and had to wait for Shiro to get there. When the game ended and the high scores came up, Keith was able to retake the number one slot. At least he still had this one under his belt.

"Damn, I'm impressed. You've got some amazing moves!"

Keith slid off his bike and stood directly in front of Shiro, having to look down very slightly since the other was still sitting. "Yeah? How about this one?" He then crushed their mouths together.

Shiro let out a startled sound before he was groaning into the kiss and giving up control to Keith. Keith nipped at Shiro's lower lip before sliding his tongue across it asking for permission,which Shiro gave up instantly. They both groaned as their tongues met between them and fought for control. More like Shiro pretended to fight for control but he melted quickly and soon Keith's fingers were in his short hair tipping his head back more to deepen the kiss even further. When the kiss finally broke, both men were panting.

"Dinner." Shiro breathed against Keith's lips which were teasing against his. "Let me buy you dinner."

Keith chuckled and gave Shiro another mind melting kiss before taking a step back. "Sure, I have no problem going on a date with an incredibly sexy fire fighter."

Shiro laughed at that, his face pink. "I'll pick you up at six then?"

"Perfect."

That night Shiro treated Keith to a homemade dinner, per Keith's request. In the morning, Shiro treated him to breakfast in bed.

**Author's Note:**

> How did I get through all of that without Keith (or at least Lance) making a joke about Shiro's fire hose?


End file.
